[Marxism] Chavez to broker deal between FARC and Colombian government

[Pat Costello <pt_costello@xxxxxxxxx>]

How wonderful if Chavez succeeds in this endeavor. It
will expand his profile throughout Latin America. 



Colombia and Venezuela
Hostage, but to whom?

Sep 6th 2007 | BOGOTÁ AND CARACAS
>From The Economist print edition
  
In inviting Hugo Chávez (left) to negotiate with the
FARC guerrillas,  Álvaro Uribe (right) has taken a big
risk

IN HIS first term as Colombia's president, Álvaro
Uribe set his face  against any negotiation with the
country's left-wing FARC guerrillas,  arguing that
they had to be militarily weakened before they might 
talk seriously about peace. In particular, he rejected
the FARC's  calls for a ?humanitarian accord?, its
Orwellian term for swapping  the better-known of its
kidnapped hostages for dozens of jailed mid-level
guerrillas. But in a startling about-face, Mr Uribe
has invited Hugo Chávez, the leftist president of
neighbouring Venezuela, to try and broker a deal.

That is a sign of how much pressure Mr Uribe, whose
father was murdered by the FARC in a botched kidnap,
now faces on the issue.  The FARC has held a number of
hostages for up to ten years because it considers them
canjeable (swappable). The 45 people still in that
category include Ingrid Betancourt, a politician of
dual Franco-Colombian nationality; several other
politicians; army and police officers; and three
Americans working under contract to the State
Department.

Colombian public opinion has veered towards favouring
a swap after the killing in June, in circumstances yet
to be clarified, of 11 regional legislators held by
the FARC for the past five years.  A schoolteacher
whose son is a hostage drew widespread public support
by marching 1,000km (620 miles) to Bogotá to call for
a swap. France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has made
obtaining the release of Ms Betancourt a priority. At
his behest, Mr Uribe in June freed Rodrigo Granda, the
highest-ranking prisoner, who promptly decamped to
Cuba.

Hitherto, the main sticking point has been the FARC's
demand for the government to withdraw troops from an
area where negotiations would take place?something
most Colombians oppose. It is to break this deadlock
that Mr Uribe turned to Mr Chávez. The two men are
ideological opposites but have developed a
relationship of wary mutual respect. Mr Chávez leapt
with gusto at the chance to be seen as a regional
powerbroker. In the past two weeks he has met Mr Uribe
and spoken to the families of both the hostages and
the guerrilla prisoners. 

If anyone can persuade the FARC to deal, it is indeed
Mr Chávez. Its leaders have already agreed to meet him
in Caracas. It is not long ago that Colombian
officials were publicly accusing him of supporting the
guerrillas and turning a blind eye to their alleged
bases across the border in Venezuela. Raúl Reyes, a
FARC leader, gave indirect support to such claims in
an interview with La Jornada, a Mexican newspaper,
published this week, in which he said he had met Mr
Chávez.

Mr Uribe's defenders have long argued that a hostage
swap will merely encourage further kidnapping. The
FARC was behind nearly a third of 23,144 kidnappings
in Colombia between 1996 and 2006, according to País
Libre, a group that helps the families of kidnap
victims. But that objection has been undermined by the
president's own success in weakening the FARC. In 1998
the guerrillas kidnapped 1,016 people; by last year
that figure had fallen to 122.

The bigger risk is that by bringing in Mr Chávez, Mr
Uribe has granted the FARC an avenue to international
legitimacy. If that were the prelude to serious peace
talks, so much the better. But Mr Chávez, an elected
president but one who has ridden roughshod over his
country's institutions, is hardly best placed to
persuade the FARC to accept the rules of democracy.

For Mr Chávez, the unexpected role of peacemaker is a
welcome break from a string of foreign-policy
setbacks. His decision not to renew the broadcasting
licence of an opposition television station, his plans
to change the constitution to allow himself to be
re-elected indefinitely, large-scale purchases of
Russian arms and resistance in Brazil to his attempts
to join the Mercosur trade block have all diminished
his standing in the region.

His new role as mediator may also amplify his hitherto
limited influence in Colombia?the main obstacle to his
plans to turn his ?Bolivarian revolution? into a
pan-Andean project. After meeting Mr Uribe he released
a group of Colombian paramilitaries arrested in 2004
on mysterious charges of plotting a coup in Venezuela.
He also surprised people in both countries by saying
he was anxious to resolve a long-standing territorial
dispute with Colombia over the Gulf of Venezuela. 

But the problem for Mr Chávez?and this might be Mr
Uribe's calculation?could be that in the end the FARC
may reckon that it has more to lose than gain by a
deal. ?The hostages are the only thing the FARC have
that gets them heard internationally and gives them
any importance domestically,? says Gerson Arias of
Ideas para la Paz, a think-tank in Bogotá. Whatever
the outcome, all three parties in the coming
negotiations face risks, some of which may be
unexpected.



      
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